Mack - 8 Weeks/2 Months

On January 23rd Mack officially turned 2 months old - my how time flies by!  Mack amazes me each day as he continues to grow... during his wake hours he's watching, listening, absorbing and learning so much as he is becoming more adapted to his surroundings. He's now able to express pleasure in addition to discomfort, and gives frequent genuine smiles. Mack's auditory and visual senses are just beginning to coordinate. He may look toward an interesting sound and search for it with his eyes. He may even coo or gurgle in response to what he hears.  He's already able to track a moving object from side to side (usually watching his daddy).

Sucking is still a highly engaging activity, and Mack can now more reliably connect his hand with his mouth. He will want to put his mouth on everything--this is how he learns where his body ends and everything else begins.

Feeding and sleeping have taken to a routine with Mack sleeping anywhere between 6 and 8 hours through the night. 


I have cherished every moment with Mack, even the cranky times. I absolutely love the adventures of motherhood - I really feel like I'm fulfilling the rest of my calling, first as a wife to Micah and then as a mother.  I'm very grateful to get to stay at home with him as well, it truly is a blessing!


If you are interested in keeping up with Mack I am posting a daily picture of him on photobucket.  Here's just a few:

First Mommy's Day Out

Today myself and several other girls from church got together with our little ones ranging in age from 7 weeks to 4 years old.  We are all stay-at-home mom's to some degree and have been longing to have some fellowship with other's where we could also bring our children.  Today we met at Chick-fil-a where the older kids could play in the kids area while we mom's could chit-chat.  I think I speak for us all when I say it was much needed and we're looking forward to the next one.

Goals for 2010

So my friend posted a few goals she had set for this year and it reminded me I was going to do the same... 

1.  Have daily devotions as a family.

2. Read through my new Woman's Devotional Bible - Sanctuary

3. Update my blog at least twice a month.

4.  Read at least one book a month.

5. And lastly keep a daily picture of Mack until he is one years old and then make a book out of it.  Pics will be posted on photobucket. (Idea taken from a friend of mine who just had her baby 6 weeks before me. Thanks Lora - great idea!)

Mack - 6 Weeks

It's been a little bit since I've updated you on Mack. He is now 6 weeks old and progressing right along. After his two week check up he wasn't gaining enough weight so we began supplementing formula and at 4 weeks he finally reached 8 pounds 3 ounces. At 6 weeks he's pursing his lips, raising his eyebrows, widening and squinting his eyes, and furrowing his brow. Mack holds his head pretty steady and is able to lift it when lying on his tummy. He is such a joy to watch.

Here's a few recent pictures...

He's recently become acquainted with his thumb.

Getting Ready for bath time.

He's actually been enjoying the bath time but he looks pretty serious.

Done with his bath and quite content.

He's following objects with his eyes and is beginning to mimic facial expressions and movements. Check this out:

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #12 - 2009)

Today was our final date of the "12 Dates of Christmas" for 2009. This afternoon we watched a youth students basketball game - it was fun to go support her.

Earlier in the week we did some Christmas shopping... the valley recently got a Rooms to Go store and on one of our dates we went perusing through the store and if you know me, it's hard to leave a furniture store with making a purchase. We had been wanting a new entertainment center for quite some time but had never found one we really liked until now. So needless to say we purchased an entertainment center. Then the following day we purchased a new 40" flat screen with the gift card from Kirk and Donna (thank you!). So we spent time this evening taking down the Christmas tree, clearing out the old entertainment center and putting up the new one with our new TV. It was cool because we were able to bless a family in our church with our old entertainment center.

Here it is.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #11 - 2009)

Tonight we went to a "Rio Grand Valley Killer Bee" hockey game. The game was intense. The Bees tied it up with just a few to go in the third. Went into overtime-then a shootout. We ended up loosing but Micah and I had a ton of fun. Mack slept through the whole thing!

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #10 - 2009)

We enjoyed some great fellowship as we celebrated with one of youth student's for his birthday.

Me and my little bundle of joy:)

Once we got home Micah built a fire and we roasted marshmallows and talked.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #9 - 2009)

Enjoyed some hot chocolate as we sat at Barnes and Nobles. Set some goals for the new year like having family devotions together with Mack. He may not fully comprehend what's going on but we are beginning to pour into his spirit the Word of God.

There's our little guy sleeping.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #8 - 2009)

Nothing too big today, we ate lunch at Chick-fil-a. They have amazing shakes and ice-cream cones.

Then rented a movie called "The Cove" (a documentary film of the purported annual killing of about 2,300 dolphins in a National Park at Taiji, Wakayama, in Japan) and cuddled on the couch.

There's our little man!

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #7 - 2009)

Merry Christmas! This is the picture we had a friend take to put on a Christmas card, didn't get it out as soon as I wanted so I e-mailed it to any friends and family I had e-mails for and posted it on facebook. I got several returned e-mails so if you did not get it let me know and I can resend it if you want it, just let me know.

We started our morning with a simple breakfast in bed - cinnamon rolls.

We read the Christmas story to Mack.

We got Mack his first Christmas ornament for the tree - that's all he got for this year (he doesn't know any different).

We had a nice lunch with Micah's parents then just vegged at the house the rest of the afternoon playing a game called Bananagrams, it's similar to scrabble - fun times!

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #6 - 2009)

Did a little shopping this morning, once we purchased our items and got to the car we realized they were too big to fit so we had to wait for backup. Needless to say we had to wait around in the parking lot for a little bit, luckily we live in south Texas where the weather is nice in December.

Enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve service at church - I would say there was standing room only but even the standing room was occupied, in fact we had people lining the halls.

Dinner with some friends.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #5 - 2009)

It was a beautiful day so we had a picnic lunch in our back yard.

Then Micah took Mack to the in-laws and when he came back to pick me up he said, "I didn't rent a limo but I borrowed this car." We got dressed up and went out to dinner at Johnny Carinos. We had a great evening together.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #4 - 2009)

Today was a low key day, slept in this morning then did some shopping. Micah captured this awesome picture. Had dinner with some new friends - the Taylors.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #3 - 2009)

Today marked 4 weeks for Mack.

Taco Bell for lunch.

We saw the movie "Invictus" starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, I'd recommend it.

We ended the evening with pizza from BJ's.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #2- 2009)

Today was a fun day with Mack's grand debut at church on a Sunday morning. He slept through most of it but at least he was "Shalom".

We also had a staff Christmas party this evening where we enjoyed food, fellowship and exchanged gifts.

To end the evening Micah and I made sugar cookies together. It's always fun to get a little messy when baking!

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #1- 2009)

Micah and I began a new tradition last year called the "12 Dates of Christmas". To keep from solely vegging out in front of the TV during the holiday season we've decided to have at least one "date" each day for 12 days where we do something fun. This could be as simple as going for a walk or eating out at one of our favorite restaurants. The idea is do do something together, take lots of pictures and in the end I will make a book out of it for memory sake.

So we began our dates this year with the classic Nutcracker ballet.

We dropped Mack off at Micah's parents. (I was a bit anxious as this was the first time to drop him off anywhere - I think all new mom's experience this, right?) I think he enjoyed his time as we enjoyed the show and ended our date with Starbucks.

Blessed Wife and Proud Mommy

Micah was able to post a little sooner than I was been able to get around to it, so this may sound redundant if you've read his blog because I am borrowing what he posted and adding a few of my own comments.

"I want to dedicate this post to thanking God for his direction and mercy. Buffi's significant contractions started around 2am on November 23rd and they increased throughout the morning. She pushed for about two hours and was worn out by 11:50am. The doctor and nurses were aware that Mack was not in the correct position (in lay-mans terms he was lying on his back facing up when he should have been lying on his stomach facing down)

Our doctor, who is a wonderful Christian and a key volunteer at our church, successfully turned Mack to the correct position...but Mack apparently didn't like that so he rolled back over and in doing so pinched off part of the placenta, his life source, causing his heart rate to drop rapidly.

Immediately everyone flew into action as they rushed Buffi to the O.R for an emergency C-section. I threw on a one size fits all (except for large people like me) set of scrubs and went into the O.R. The team did a great job of delivering our baby with no problems, in just a few minutes he was cleaned up and in our arms.

Tears come to our eyes when we think about how close we were to loosing him and then tears of joy and thankfulness to God for leading us to the hospital and doctor that we have had. Early in the pregnancy we had considered a midwife/natural birthing center...if we had gone that rout Mack would not be here. The midwives, as awesome as they are, are not set up to handle what we needed today. All along while Buffi and I were trying to decide where to go and who to use we simply did not feel peace about the birthing center. Now we know why. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Mom is recovering slow and steady, Mack is doing fine as well. He is cute!"

I can't explain the rush of emotions I felt as I heard Mack take his first gasp of air into his lungs and let out his first tiny cry... tears streamed down my face, just minutes later I saw our baby boy for the first time and all I could get out was "I love you" before they had to take him away and continue stitching me up from the surgery.

Micah was absolutely amazing through the whole thing especially since I was completely dependent upon someone else for the next several days as I recovered from surgery. I don't have the words to express how grateful I am for him - I feel like my love for Micah has grown even deeper. Well there's so much to say yet I'm at a loss for words... I am an extremely blessed wife and proud mommy!

Here are just a few pics. The last one was the day after we got out of the hospital - we hosted Thanksgiving at our house with all of Master's, Interns and a few staff. It was truly a thankful day.